by Julie Caplin
‘Perhaps if you could …’ The girl tried to give her an encouraging smile, which didn’t disguise her raging curiosity, ‘you know … get some more recent references.’
Lucy shook her head feeling the familiar leaden lump of despair threaten to rise up and choke her. The girl tried to look sympathetic, while taking a surreptitious glance of her watch. No doubt she had an infinitely more placeable candidate for her next appointment whose CV was dripping with recommendations from her last boss and hadn’t had her shame shared among all in her professional world.
‘There must be something.’ Desperation chased the words out with the glee of naughty fairies escaping. ‘I don’t mind taking a step down. You’ve seen how much experience I’ve got.’ She heard herself utter the fateful words, which she’d promised herself, no matter how bad things got, she wouldn’t say. ‘I’ll take anything.’
The girl arched her eyebrow as if wanting her to elaborate on anything.
‘Well, almost anything,’ said Lucy, suddenly horribly aware that anything covered an awful lot of situations, vacant or otherwise and this woman’s income was derived from placing people.
‘W…ellll, there is one thing.’ She gave an elegant shrug.
Now Lucy regretted the ‘almost anything.’ What was she opening herself up to? She didn’t know this woman. How could she trust her?
‘It’s … erm … a big step down. A temporary to permanent contract. On a two-month trial. And out of the country.’
‘I don’t mind out of the country,’ Lucy said, sitting upright. A two-month trial was good. And, actually, out of the country would be bloody marvellous. Why the hell hadn’t she thought of that before? A complete escape. Escape from the sly sniggers behind her back from her former colleagues, the that’s her, you know the one who furtive looks, the we know what you’ve done secretive smiles and the occasional I bet you would knowing leer, which made her feel positively sick.
The girl stood up and strode several paces to the corner of her office to rummage in a small stack of blue files on the beech console table behind her. Even from here Lucy could tell that they were the barrel scrapings, those jobs that had been consigned to the ‘we’ll never fill these in a month of Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and the rest’ category. With a tug, a dog-eared folder was pulled out from near the bottom of the pile. Lucy knew how that poor file felt. Overlooked and cast aside.
‘Hmm.’
Lucy waited, sitting on the edge of her seat craning her neck slightly trying read the words as the other girl trailed a glossy nail down the A4 page. ‘Hmm. OK. Mmm.’
Lucy clenched her fingers, glad that they were jammed between her thighs and the chair.
With a half-concealed tut, the girl closed the file and looked worriedly at her. ‘Well it’s something. Anything.’ Her expression faltered. ‘You’re very over-qualified. It’s in …’ and proceeded to say something that sounded rather like a sneeze.
‘Sorry?’
‘Hvolsvöllur,’ she repeated. Lucy just knew she’d looked the pronunciation up.
‘Right,’ Lucy nodded. ‘And where exactly is …’ she nodded at the file, guessing that it was from the sound of the word somewhere in Eastern Europe.
‘Iceland.’
‘Iceland!’
‘Yes,’ the other woman carried on hurriedly. ‘It’s a two-month post for a trial period in a small lodge in Hvolsvöllur, which is only an hour and half’s drive out of Reykjavik. An immediate start. Shall I call them, send your details over?’ Her words spilled out with sudden, unexpected commission bonus enthusiasm.
Iceland. Not somewhere she’d ever considered going. Wasn’t it horribly cold there? And practically dark all the time. Her ideal climate was hot with tepid bathwater temperature seas. An hour’s drive out of Reykjavik sounded ominous, the sub text being in the middle of nowhere. Lucy gnawed at her lip.
‘Of course they might not want you … you know.’ The girl’s smile dimmed in silent sympathy. ‘I don’t want to get your hopes up. But I will tell them what good previous experience you’ve had. It’s just the … er recent references might be a problem. You’ve got a bit of a gap.’
‘Perhaps you could just say I’ve been taking a sabbatical.’ said Lucy, hurriedly.
The girl nodded, plastering her smile back on. ‘Let me go and make the call.’ She stood up from her desk looking a little awkward. Lucy suspected she usually made her calls from the phone on the desk but wanted some privacy to try and persuade the client to take someone on with a three-year gap on their CV.
For the last year, she’d been Assistant Manager for the flagship hotel of a big chain in Manchester having worked her way up through the company during the previous two, until said big chain sacked her for gross misconduct. Lucy gritted her teeth at the memory of the heartless HR storm trooper of a woman Head Office had sent up from leafy Surrey to deliver the killer blow. Of course, they hadn’t sacked Chris.
For a minute, self-pity threatened to swamp her. Job application after job application, rejection after rejection. Not one single interview. Every time she got another rejection, the bleakness grew, like a shadow spreading in the setting sun. Her bank account was running on empty, she was rapidly running out of sofas to bunk on and, the end of the road, holing up in Mum and Dad’s two up, two down terrace in Portsmouth, was looming large. And there was no way she could do that. Mum would want to know why. The truth would kill Dad. Lucy gnawed at her lip, opening up the bloody ulcerous sore already there. For some reason, she’d taken to chewing the inside of her lip and it had become a horrible habit over the few months that she couldn’t seem to shake.
‘It … it is live in?’ asked Lucy hurriedly as the girl was about to leave the room.
‘Oh Lord yes, no one in their right minds would look at it without accommodation.’ Her eyes suddenly widened as she realised she’d probably said far too much. ‘I’ll be right back.’ Rather tellingly she’d scooped up the file to take it with her leaving Lucy alone in the office.
‘Are you sure it’s the right thing to do?’ asked Daisy, shaking her head, an expression of diffidence on her face, as she stared at her laptop screen. ‘You’re massively over-qualified for this. It’s only got forty rooms,’ she paused. ‘And you hate the snow. You’d only just acclimatised to Manchester. Iceland will be far worse. Although,’ she wrinkled her forehead, ‘it does look very nice.
Lucy nodded, nice was an understatement, according to the gallery of photos on this website, it looked gorgeous. The outside with its turfed rooves and hotchpotch of buildings was dwarfed on one side by a snow-covered hillside strewn with the dark shadows of craggy outcrops and on the other a wild rocky coastline where foamy waves crashed onto a narrow shingle beach. The beautifully photographed interior showed stunning views from each of the lodge’s windows, several huge fireplaces and cosily arranged nooks with furniture which invited you to curl up and doze in front of a warming hearth. It all looked fabulous. Which begged the question, why hadn’t the job of General Manager not been snapped up before? Her teeth caught at that damn sore on the inside of her lip and she winced.
Daisy mistaking her sudden intake of breath, gave her a stern look. ‘You don’t have to take it. You know you can stay here as long as you like.’ Her eyes softened. ‘I really don’t mind. I love having you.’
Tempting as it would have been to stay in Daisy’s cute one man flat in Bath, Lucy had to take this job. ‘Dais, I can’t sleep on your sofa forever and if I don’t go for this job, it probably will be forever.’
The familiar gloom threatened to descend again dragging her down. She swallowed ignoring the panic beating like the wings of a bird inside her heart and glanced at Daisy. How did you admit that you no longer thought you were capable of doing a job? She was so trapped by indecision at every turn, constantly questioning her own judgement.
Should she go for this job? The brief Skype interview seemed a mere formality, a quick check to make sure that she didn’t have two heads or anythin
g. They didn’t even seem that bothered as to whether she could do the job. Which was just as well as all her stuffing had been well and truly knocked out of her and if she’d had to sell herself she’d have withered on the spot.
Daisy put an arm on hers jolting her from her thoughts. ‘Don’t take it. Something else will come up.’
Lucy raised a pertinent eyebrow and her best friend had the grace to smile weakly.
‘Ok.’ Daisy clenched her petite little hands into fists. ‘But it’s so f-fu flipping unfair. It wasn’t your fault.’
‘Daisy Jackson! Were you about to swear then?’
A dimple appeared in the other girl’s cheek as she smiled like a naughty pixie. ‘Might have been. But it makes me so mad. It’s so …’ She made a ‘grrr’ sound.
‘You see, another reason I need to get out of here. You’re making animal noises too. I’m a bad influence. And it was my fault. No one’s fault but my own … and Chris’s for being a grade A shit.’
‘It wasn’t your fault! Stop saying that,’ said Daisy, her voice shrill with indignation. ‘You can’t blame yourself. It’s Chris’s fault. Although I still can’t believe he did it. Why?’
Lucy’s jaw tightened, they’d been over this a thousand times over the course of the last 62 days and numerous glasses of prosecco, wine, gin and vodka. Rumination and alcohol hadn’t provided any answers. It was her fault, for being so utterly, utterly stupid. She couldn’t believe how badly she’d got it wrong. Four years. A flat together. Working for the same company. She thought she knew Chris. One thing was for sure … she would never trust another man as long as she lived.
‘It doesn’t matter ‘why’ he did it. I need to move on and I need a job.’ She gritted her teeth, going to Iceland was a terrible idea but she was all out of options.
Chapter 2
Paris
‘Here you go.’ Nina slid the coffee cup across the table towards Alex and handed him a plate with a gorgeous looking confection on it. ‘On the house. I want your opinion, it’s my latest idea. Raspberry Ripple Éclair. It might cheer you up,’ she added with a smile that was underpinned with a smattering of sympathy.
Alex felt a touch of regret. Nina was lovely. His plans to get to know her better had been well and truly scuppered by a prior claim. Sadly, she’d been in love with his mate Sebastian for ever and he had to admit as he looked at her now, requited love had put a gorgeous bloom on her cheeks. You couldn’t begrudge anyone that shiny happiness. He took a bite of the éclair and groaned.
‘Wow, that’s good, Nina. Really good.’
‘Excellent, now are you going to tell me what’s wrong?’
He rolled his eyes, as she pulled up a chair and sat down ignoring the outraged glare from Marcel, the manager of the patisserie. Nina might officially run the place, but Marcel definitely wore the trousers in this business partnership, ruling the roost with silent, stern officiousness.
‘Who said anything was wrong? asked Alex, trying to sound blithe.
‘I have brothers. I have a Sebastian. I know when the weight of the world is bowing those broad shoulders. You have a distinct droop about you,’ she declared with a knowing grin.
He glanced left to right at both shoulders and she gave a peal of laughter.
‘I’m just a wee bit pissed off. The new hotel opening is delayed and the manager lined up to take over from me has already rocked up.’ Alex was due to take over the running of a brand new, minimalist, uber trendy boutique hotel on the other side of Paris any day now, except during the renovations the builders had discovered bones in the cellars. Human bones. Thankfully they were at least two hundred years old but it had still caused a humungous delay.
‘You can take a holiday then,’ said Nina.
‘You’d have thought so but my boss in his infinite wisdom has decided to give me a temporary posting.’
‘You’re not leaving Paris, are you?’ Her pretty mouth pouted and Alex felt another one of those little pangs of regret. Nice guys did finish last. He’d well and truly missed the boat with her.
‘Only for a couple of months. Quentin wants me to go and check out a hotel he’s planning to buy. He wants me to assess the viability of the place and put together a report on my recommendations to turn it into one of our boutique hotels.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘Iceland.’
Nina’s mouth dropped open into a little ‘o’. ‘I thought you meant somewhere else in France. Not another country. Well that doesn’t sound so bad. Isn’t Iceland supposed to be beautiful with all sorts of amazing natural wonders? Bubbling geysers, hot springs and glaciers? Being Scottish I’d have thought you’d like the idea.’
‘No problem with going to Iceland. It’s the job Quentin wants me to do, which isn’t that great.’
‘I thought you said you had to put together a report.’
‘Yes but it includes reporting on the current general manager and how the place is being run without telling them who I am. It doesn’t sit right with me. The last thing I want to do is be a spy.’
‘James Bond,’ said Nina, sitting up straighter. ‘You’ve got the Sean Connery accent.’ She launched into a dreadful impersonation of his Edinburgh accent. ‘Ah Moneypenny.’
‘Well, that must mean I’m qualified,’ Alex quipped, amused by Nina’s enthusiasm, his spirits temporarily lifted.
He was still rattled by the meeting and the conversation with his boss when he’d raised a certain disquiet about not telling the manager why he was there. He had no qualms about being a bar manager for a couple of months, that would be a walk in the park, but not being honest about what he was doing didn’t sit right. His boss’s response to that had stung. ‘Thing is Alex, nice guys finish last. This is business. Pure and simple. I need someone to report back, warts and all. Without any sugarcoating it. It’s far easier if the staff don’t know who you are. I’m not hearing great things about the management of the place. The recent Trip Advisor reviews have been shockers. With you on the ground, I’ll get a much better picture. You’ve got a good eye and you’ll be able to tell me what needs doing to sort the place out. And what the staff are like. Whether I can keep them? Or fire their sorry arses.’
The ‘nice guys finish last’ bit kept going around in his head. What was wrong with being a nice guy? Besides, he could be tough when a situation needed it. Last week he’d thrown a customer out of the hotel’s a la carte restaurant for pinching one of the waitress’s bums, faced down a belligerent delivery driver who reversed into the hotel gates leaving a hole a herd of cows could get through and fired the pastry chef he’d caught hurling a frying pan at the young, barely out of school, dishwasher.
‘Alex is going to be James Bond,’ announced Nina as Sebastian walked in and put his arm around her placing a confident, lazy kiss on her lips, completely ignoring Alex.
‘Hi gorgeous, mmm you taste of raspberries and deliciousness.’ He went back for a second longer, lingering kiss, which had Alex rolling his eyes.
At last Sebastian drew back from Nina and turned to face him. Alex’s mouth twitched, he’d got the message loud and clear.
‘Bond, James Bond?’ Sebastian lifted a perfect Roger Moore eyebrow.
‘No, Nina’s exaggerating my undercover credentials. I’ve been asked to do some recon work for Quentin Oliver at head office. They’re looking at buying a place in Iceland and as I’m between hotels at the moment, I’ve been asked to go and survey the place. On the ground as it were.’ Sebastian would laugh his head off if he mentioned he was going undercover as a barman!
‘Sounds like a great idea,’ said Sebastian with a sudden grin, which Alex could guess had a lot to do with just how far away Iceland was. Although Alex had backed right away when he realised that Nina had been in love with Sebastian since she was eighteen. For a second he wondered what might have happened, if he’d put up more of a fight for her, if he’d really thought he had a chance. Had he bowed out because it made it easier on Nina?
As
he thought about it, he gave Sebastian a broad smile, maybe the best man had won. Nina adored Sebastian and she was good for him. Possibly too good. But Alex had never seen Sebastian so settled and happy.
‘I have no problem with going to Iceland. Like Nina said, I’m used to a Northern climate. It’s the undercover element of it I’m not so keen on.’
‘Why not?’ Sebastian shrugged. ‘You just need to remember it’s business. It’s easy to be ruthless when something you really want is at stake.’ Was there a knowing look in his eye as he stared at Alex?
And then he flashed Alex a warm, approving smile. ‘There’s no one else I’d rather have on the team, mate. I know why Quentin Oliver’s asked you. Better that it’s you. You’ve got integrity and you don’t bullshit anyone. You don’t suffer fools that’s for sure. If the current manager is an idiot, are you seriously going to have a problem reporting back on that? You hate coasters and people who don’t pull their wait. If this guy is any good, he’s got nothing to worry about.’
Chapter 3
Iceland
Lucy’s thoughts came back to haunt her as she stood outside the firmly closed front doors of The Northern Lights Lodge, in total darkness, her breath huffing out in a great cloud of white as the cold nipped at every last one of her extremities. This was a terrible idea. Why had she listened to a perky recruitment consultant with her eye on her commission? Why hadn’t she remained in Bath with Daisy?
She almost laughed out loud, mild hysteria threatening to take hold of her. Because you were desperate. You knew it was a terrible idea and you were right. You should have trusted your own instinct.